Match Preview

The British & Irish Lions have named a strong side for this opening fixture against an invitational Royal XV in the first match of the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour.

Lions skipper Paul O’Connell leads the side out in the first match of the tour in what will surely be a show of physical domination as quickly as possible in the tour. Having protected 2005 skipper Brian O’Driscoll in the opening three matches of the New Zealand tour, putting out a strong side and giving the skipper a run out in the first game of 2009 will surely be seen as a sign of what is to come later in the tour.

The real story though is that ‘bolter’ Keith Earls gets an early opportunity to show what he can do in the Lions camp. Earls is on a bit of a tough task having to compete with International colleague Brian O’Driscoll for the 13 shirt, but given his appearances for Munster in this seasons Heineken Cup and coupled with the fact that the Bok’s will be unlikely to have done their research on him properly he remains a very real prospect to feature in the tests at some point.

The Royals XV are not expected put up much of a resistance to the Lions pack. A large number of the players feature in the second tier of South African rugby competition, however there are a handful of players who have featured in the Super 14 including scrum half Sarel Potigieter, Naas Oliver, Bjorn Basson and Bees Roux of the Cheetahs and Deon van Rensburg of the (Golden) Lions. The Royal XV squad contains 13 Vodacom Cup-winning Griquas, 8 Leopards and one Puma. There has to be a joke in there somewhere…?

Royals Skipper Wilhelm Koch has previous Lions experience in his family as he is a relative of the former Springbok prop Chris Koch who faced the 1955 British Lions.

Lions-Tour.com Prediction

The Royals are a fairly weak side but will be looking to give a good account of themselves in what will undoubtedly be the pinnacle of their careers. However the Lions are far too strong for the local side and the Royals will do well to keep the score below 50 points.